Dynamic duo embraces the spirit of teamwork to support students with visual impairments

The dynamic duo of Catholic Charities Maine’s Education Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Children (ESBVIC). That is how coworkers describe Gayle Flegel and Lori Spencer.

 “They exemplify the spirit of teamwork and have worked diligently to support students with visual impairment in Maine,” says Nancy Moulton, program director.

Gayle and Lori have both been teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) for 45 years and have been close friends for nearly as long. Although the same age with the same profession, they describe themselves as being opposite in many ways.

“She’s left-brained. I’m right-brained. She’s very neat. I’m a mess,” says Gayle.

“Gayle has piles. That’s her system. I get something and quickly file it in a file drawer — except my problem is I can’t remember where I filed it,” says Lori, laughing. “But we just clicked really well together, both as friends and as colleagues. It just works.”

While their approaches sometimes differ, what Lori and Gayle share is a passion for their work and a desire to help children who are blind or have a visual impairment. Lori, who is originally from Montana, says she felt drawn to the career back in high school while working at a church camp that was being used by a school for the blind.

“I had never met a blind person, and I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ But I just had the time of my life. I always knew I was going to work in education because that’s just me, but it was like, ahh, now I know what I want to do,” Lori says. “It was just really interesting looking at things in a different way. It was challenging certainly, but I loved every minute of it.”

Gayle, who is originally from Michigan, says she did not have firsthand experience with someone with a visual impairment. She just felt drawn to teaching but not in a traditional setting.

“I just thought it would be cool to either teach braille or sign. I’m still interested in both,” she says.

After college, both got jobs in other states, but not long after, they found their way to Maine. When they started at ESBVIC, the program was just five years old, and Catholic Charities Maine was still called Diocesan Human Relations Services.

 Gayle and Lori say they have stayed with ESBVIC for more than four decades because of the importance of the work that they do and because the job never gets old.

“We serve kids from birth until age 22. We have a variety of age groups, with all different impairments, so our kids are all very different. There’s never a dull moment. It’s always changing. There are always new things. It’s just a really good field to be in,” says Lori.

 “Like Lori said, no day is the same. I might work with a baby in the morning, helping a parent teach them to crawl, because kids don’t crawl if they are visually impaired and they don’t know what’s out there, and then work with a high school student in the afternoon,” says Gayle.

ESBVIC has 16½ TVI positions, serving 275 students from all parts of the state and from many different backgrounds and situations. 

“We’re the only agency in Maine that teaches kids with visual impairments. I think that is important to know,” says Gayle.

Gayle currently works with 25 children, while Lori has 24 students. Based in Brewer, the two primarily serve in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, but ESBVIC currently has two TVI vacancies, so they also have traveled to Aroostook County as well as to southern Maine.

“We see kids wherever they are, whether it be home, school, the hospital. The home is mostly our babies because they’re not in school yet,” says Lori.

“We see different things with a child at [physical therapy] than we would see at home. They are different at home than they are at school than they are at PT,” says Gayle.

The TVIs provide an assessment and then work with the children, their families, and their teachers to find the best ways to help the children learn and grow. While there are proven processes, Gayle says sometimes it can be like throwing spaghetti against the wall until you see what sticks.

Some of the children they serve were born with a visual impairment, while others suffered vision loss through illness or injury. In some cases, the children have an ocular visual impairment (OVI), meaning there is something wrong with their eyes. In other cases, the child’s vision loss is a result of cortical visual impairment (CVI).

“Something has happened in the visual pathways in the brain, and as a result, this kiddo cannot see,” explains Lori. “Most of those kids have one or more additional impairments. They might have autism. They might have a learning disability. They might have a speech problem.”

As the technical advisor for children with CVI, Lori will consult with other TVIs and travel throughout the state to help them if needed.

“How we respond to it and the modifications we make with CVI are very different from what we do for ocular visual impairment,” says Lori. “This is really a new part of the field in the last, maybe, 20 years.”

They say what some people might see as small successes are often reasons to celebrate for them.

“It gives you chills sometimes,” says Gayle. “It’s exciting.”

 Gayle, for instance, shares the story of a boy who developed CVI after suffering a head injury when he was about nine months old.

“They told the mom that he’s not going to walk, not going to see, not going to talk, and now that kid is running around,” says Gayle. “He went from being totally blind to being able to match pictures. For instance, he can tell the difference between a fire truck and an ambulance. I mean he is just a miracle. He’s doing letters now. If his mom hadn’t believed us, I don’t think he would be where he is now. I really don’t because it was very, very deliberate adaptations and ways to do things.”

“It’s a process of going from a kid with no vision to a kid with somewhat normal vision. He’ll always have visual impairment. Rarely does CVI resolve to normal vision, but some kids get pretty darn close,” says Lori.

Another girl whom Gayle has worked with for several years was blind as a result of suffering a stroke at three months old, resulting in CVI. Gayle began working with her several years ago when she was aged four.

“She knows what a book is. She listens to a book. She enjoys it, but if she looked at it, she wouldn’t know what it was until she touched it. We’ve gone from that to last night, and I thought this was cool, I got a new phone case. I had my phone lying on the table, and she says, ‘Ms. Gayle, I love your purple phone.’ She knew it was a phone! It still blows me away, those little things, those little glimmers.”

“It’s an educational approach not a medical approach. Sometimes, even the doctors didn’t believe us, but now they’re seeing the difference,” says Lori.

Gayle and Lori say there have been a lot of improvements in treatment for children who are blind or have a visual impairment.

“Technology helps our kids with low vision so much. It makes it so much more accessible. We used to have to enlarge everything on a mimeograph. Now, you pull it up on your computer, you zoom, you’re good,” says Lori.

Gayle and Lori compliment Catholic Charities Maine for making sure they and the other TVIs are kept up-to-date on advances in treatment.

“One of the things that is really good about this position is that we are so supported,” says Lori. “Catholic Charities has been fabulous in making sure all of us TVIs get training through the year, every year.”

Gayle and Lori also have the benefit of years of experience, which they have been happy to share with others.

“Gayle and Lori’s nearly 40 years of teamwork has not only directly benefited their students, but it has also helped to educate younger TVIs who will be continuing as TVIs after they have retired, which is a pretty impressive legacy to leave,” wrote Leeann Ward, a TVI, in a letter supporting Gayle and Lori’s nomination for a Northeast Chapter of the Association for Education & Rehabilitation of the Blind & Visually Impaired Team Award, which they received last November.

As Leeann noted, Gayle and Lori are both eyeing retirement, but they say their friendship will continue once they leave. 

They say what they will miss the most is being able to help the kids.

“I hope that, over time, I made a difference for somebody,” says Lori.

“I guess that’s the big thing, that at the end of my career or my life, I made a difference,” agrees Gayle. “Like that little guy who was matching pictures, it’s kind of like an Anne Sullivan moment for me.”  

Education Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Children (ESBVIC)

If you are interested in learning more about ESBVIC or becoming a TVI, contact Kirsten Connelly at 207.592.4760 or kconnelly@ccmaine.org.